Do your electrical appliances die in pairs?

Yesterday the garden vac/blower died. I took it apart but it's a winding on the motor that's duff, so no chance of fixing it.
Today the microwave expired - the magnetron started to arc. Again no chance of an economic repair.

Over the last 20 years or so we almost always find our domestic appliances seem to expire in pairs or within a couple of weeks of each other.
Cooker + dishwasher. Tumble drier + fridge. Dishwasher + Kettle. Freezer + last garden vac.

Maybe it's because they've often been replaced in pairs and that the working life of an electrical appliance is nowadays pretty short. Our first fridge was at least 7 years old when we were given it and it lasted us about 10 years, it was still working but arrival of kids meant we needed a larger one. Our first vacuum cleaner was about 35 when my parents passed it on to us and it lasted at least another 10. First chest freezer, an ex-ice cream freezer, was about 20 when we had to replace it.

 

I hope they don't die in pairs.

Our Dualit burr coffee grinder died yesterday in "mid grind" for our lunchtime cappuccino. It wasn't very old. Had to pop out to John Lewis for a new one before we could get our fix. (a different make with a five year guarantee) I hope that our all singin' and dancin' coffee machine doesn't come out in sympathy.


However, a fridge/freezer we bought in 1976 which got relegated to the tea-house in 1990 when we bought a slightly larger one, (since replace with a much larger one, despite it now being for only two people!) I had to "beat to death with a stick" when I finally swapped it for a small fridge earlier this year.

The thread reminds me of this clip of a Woody Allen sketch where he talks about "mechanical objects."

At about two and half minutes in, he starts talking about his relationship with his personal posessions including his kitchen appliances and how they ganged up on him. Like the shower burnt him and the toster burned his toast etc.,

Edit. The clip finishes before the end! I've got it on an mp3.


Anyway, he calls a meeting and gets them all in the living room together and says "I know what's going on, so cut it out!" The last gag was the fact that his father had been replaced at work with a gadget "about this big" that did everything his father did but better.
The depressing thing was that his mother immediately rushed out and bought one!


[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzBYCkjfx6k"]YouTube - Woody Allen - Stand up comic: Mechanical Objects[/nomedia]

 

It annoys me the way things aren't built to last any more and that obsolescence is taken for granted. On a recent trip to the local dump, I was amazed by the number of people chucking relatively new appliances which had obviously conked out after a year or so.

My Grandma had an ancient Fridgidaire fridge (judging by the design I'd say it dated from the early sixties) which never went wrong. Sadly it had to be chucked out eventually, not because it had ceased to function but because the rubber seals had perished and it had become impossible to get spare parts. Why can't we build things properly now? It would make so much more sense now that we supposed to be 'green'.

 

This business of built in obsolescence was started by the Americans in the post war years, particularly in the motor industry.

In the late fifties when I was seventeen I bought a 1936 Austin Seven which was in excellent condition, however after six months it developed a fault in the dynamo. A relative who was a mechanic suggested that it was the bearing. So I went to Lookers and bought a new one for 5p.
He helped me fit and the car was as good as new, despite now being 22 years old. Today you'd have to buy a complete unit if your dynamo had a similar problem.

I tried to have a look at my coffee grinder because I thought it might just be the internal switch as the mechanical timer was working OK. But there was no way of getting into it.

 

Built in redundancy and no user accessable parts.
Our manufactures are not daft....
I remember in my younger days as an electrician I learnt that a popular Black and Decca hand drill had a motor life of just 10 Hours. Mind you, you can drill a lot of holes in ten hours!
I had loads of the said drills passed to me for repairs. Mainly carbon brushes and rotor burn out.
Usual comments were "Ive only had it five minutes.

 

You used to be able to buy the brush kits for car dynamos.

I remember there was a "third brush" on the dynamo of my Austin Seven, which you could move its position on the commutator to get the best charge.

I know I can get the brushes for three of the four electric motors in each of my jukeboxes if they are ever necessary.

 

Yes.........mine all died 4 years ago, first it was the washer, next day was the dryer.....so we went and bought King size washer and dryer on the weekend......that Monday morning, my fridge went on the blitz, and we went and bought new again, and thought with our luck, we had better buy the matching stove too!!!

 

Smart move penny... you have that one covered....

 

We've been married 34 years and still have the fridge/freezer my in-laws bought us as a wedding present. When the 'fast freeze' light stopped working (about 12 years ago), I wrote to Electrolux asking to purchase a replacement, which in the event, they sent free of charge. Before it arrived however, whatever ailed the said light, righted itself and I still have that replacement bulb, sitting in the salad box unused!

Oh, but were the same true of all the other light bulbs in this house. Since it was re-wired about 4 years ago, every time a bulb goes it triggers the main lighting 'thingy', which means you have to blunder about in total darkness to reset the switch in the fuse box and, having done that, tour all the rooms either downstairs or up, to see which bulb caused the 'black-out'. 9 times out of 10, this 'switch tripping' also causes another bulb to go. Grrrrrrr - how is this 'progress'?

 

What intrigues me is the fact that lights in cars usually outlive by far household lamps. (ce'pt for that Nisan Micra in front with the "baby on board!" sign in the back window, but only one brake light working).

 

Quote, Fidgetsmum

" I still have that replacement bulb, sitting in the salad box unused !"

At least the blub will still be fresh !

 

Exactly!

Our daughter had a Mercedes M class where she could be going down the motorway and everything cut out. She'd coast on to the hard shoulder.
turn off the ignition and turn it on again. The computer would re-boot itself and she could drive off again. But she never knew when it would happen again and the garage said it would cost a fortune to fix, so she traded it in.


Digressing, over thirty years ago we had a Mark lll Courtina GXL (exactly like Gene Hunt's) the kids loved it. I took it to the garage when it was about five years old and spoke to one of the mechanics. The conversation went like this.

"When I've been driving down the motorway and come off at the slip road near the garage, as I brake for the roundabout the engine warning light comes on, but it's not short of oil."

"Hmm.. Funny that, mine does as well!"